Sunday, March 02, 2008

Quarterlife Might Have a New Home

I'm not a fan of Quarterlife. Not really at all. And it was a bummer because I'm one of the biggest My So Called Life fans out there. I'm a huge sucker for angst. I thrive on it. Love it.

I think what it boiled down to was that Quarterlife was missing the great Winnie Holzman. That woman knows how to write characters that you love and want to hang out with. The kind of characters your heart breaks for. They're honest and genuine and sweet and awkward. They're real. Quarterlife didn't have those folks. And it's really too bad.

I thought the show was a noble effort. I was just chatting on Thursday with a friend about what's been happening to it since.The show created by the folks that produced the beloved My So Called Life started as a MySpace series. An 8- 10 minute episode each week. Quick enough to catch on your break at work. It found an audience. It did really well. The show creators were smart. They went directly to where its viewers lived, MySpace. But then the experiment continued. NBC picked it up to air on prime time TV. The question was, how would it translate. Well, not so well. In fact it did the worst ratings for the time spot it had in over the last 17 years. Wow. I didn't expect it to bomb quite that badly.

It didn't surprise me that it couldn't find its viewers on NBC. The audience had already seen it at their desks at work on their lunch breaks. Why would they tune in to watch it again on a bigger screen? So who's left to watch it on Primetime TV? Not many folks.

Needless to say, NBC pulled the plug. It seems Bravo is giving it a go now. I'll be curious how it plays out in its new home. Will it be loved and cared for? Will they feed it and let its friends come over?

So the question remains, can webisodes still translate to television? Is there hope for folks who are creating internet series to get their fans to support them on TV. I think so. I think it has to be a pretty kick ass show. I just don't think Quarterlife was that show. But I do think that this show is.